Hey everyone!
I never thought that I’d be in this position, but I need some help choosing from some great options! I plan on visiting Duke and Rice april break (I already visited CMU).
Breakdown:
Costs for all schools are same, so not a factor.
Major for Rice and CMU is civil engineering + public policy; Duke is public policy
Duke -
Pros
- Dream school since 8th grade… go blue devils!
- Amazing public policy program, plus they have this American national security policy program that I want to do
- Easiest travel time – 2 hours by plane
- Duke basketball!
- Not the biggest factor, but prestige… dude, it’s Duke. How am I supposed to say no to Duke??
Cons
- I hear greek life plays a big part on campus. I like to party but I’m not sure I fit into the frat bro partying set
- I wouldn’t be able to major in engineering, but I’m not sure I want to do engineering
Rice -
Pros
- No greek life
- Flexible for changing/exploring majors, great engineering
- Smaller community, so more tight-knit/exposure to professors
- Residential college system
Cons
- Policy analysis major isn’t as good as Duke’s
- Been told it is either a “love it or hate it” experience
- can only get to Houston by plane, 4 hr flight
Carnegie Mellon -
Pros
- Really awesome engineering program
- Pittsburgh is a cool city
- Geographically/culturally “closer” to home (I live in new england)
Cons
- The stereotype student is kinda nerdy and awkward
- 8 hour drive away
- Stress culture
Of those and with you saying you aren’t sure that you want engineering I would pick Duke and not pledge. There are plenty of activities without Greek life. Just from what you are saying I’m not sure that Rice seems to fit. If you are engineering you will be heavily engineering there. Duke has a great public policy department. You can always visit a fraternity at Duke and check that you don’t like it and check out all the other great clubs. Great situation to be in!
Don’t underestimate Houston it is a up and coming city with incredible diversity and thriving arts. Wait till you see the Rice campus in person but stay overnight at Rice and Duke very different culture decide which you like. One other thing to add to your list is weather. CMU cold damp winters, Duke less cold winters Rice maybe never wear a coat winters but 90’s and humid first couple weeks school. Also Rice not that interested in college sports but very invested in intermural rivalry sports but division one, woman’s basketball was un top 25 this year. Have no idea if CMU even does division 3. Do the college admitted days and stay over night. By the way Houston very easy to fly too two world class airports. Where do you fly into Duke and how far is the campus from the airport ? I think Duke much more traditional frat oriented old boy kind of vibe. Rice much more quarky and iconoclast. Both rice and CMU have good art schools and music schools. Can’t really speak for Duke never been there other then my old college room mate was from there and bad mouthed it. Daughter wasn’t interested you know she didn’t like the person who did their presentation.She is at rice and she applied to CMU.
Engineering and public policy is a very popular combination at Duke. You can only double major in those fields as a Pratt student, however. If you were admitted to Trinity, it’s not terribly difficult to switch between Pratt and Trinity.
Greek life is there if you want it. If you’re not interested, you’re free to ignore the Greek scene. It’s as big or little a deal as you choose to make it.
I was independent and had no problems finding things to do on campus and in Durham (which has been massively gentrified over the last couple of decades). There’s 6500 undergrads on campus with all sorts of interests and backgrounds. It’s not hard to find like-minded people.
You have some great choices. It sounds like Duke is the better school for you if money is not an issue. If you can attend Owl Days or an Admit Day at Rice and Blue Devil Days at Duke, those visits would give you a very good feel for the two schools. If those times don’t work, visit on a regular school day and try to sit in on some classes. You have already visited CMU, and I can’t add anything there. http://calendar.duke.edu/show?fq=id%3ACAL-8a08708a-306bfd5e-0130-9e1e5a9c-00004a64demobedework%40mysite.edu https://admission.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs676/f/ScheduleAtAGlance_OwlDays2019_4.pdf
I have a daughter at Rice that also considered Duke. She was not interested in Greek life, and Rice was a better fit for her. We live in Houston so it was very close by. Rice’s cost of attendance was somewhat cheaper.
The two schools are very different. If you are interested in big time college sports with massive school spirit such as Duke basketball, Duke can’t be beat. Rice is Division 1, but most of the students never attend games in any sport. I would describe Rice students as happy nerds. Not everyone is in a fraternity at Duke, but the frats are a factor in social life there. Rice’s social life revolves around the residential colleges, and competition among them is fierce.
Both Duke and Rice have beautiful campuses. Duke has gothic style architecture while Rice has Mediterranean style. Duke has more of an old south vibe than Rice does. At Duke, all of the freshmen live at the East campus while upper classmen are on West campus. Buses go between the two. Rice is smaller than Duke and easily walkable. Rice has more of an undergrad focus while Duke has medical. law, and divinity grad schools to name a few.
My husband attended grad school at Duke, and my in laws both graduated from there and now live in Durham.The airport in Durham is a short Uber ride to the campus. Durham is a smaller town than Houston or Pittsburg, but Chapel Hill is just a few miles away, and the whole research triangle area has lots of places to eat, shop, etc.
Some of your pros/cons suggest that you have already made some decisions…
In particular: you say that Pro-Duke is easiest travel time: “only 2 hours by plane”, vs Con-Rice is “can only get to Houston by plane- 4 hours” vs Con-CMU, an “8 hour drive away”. On the face it, that is all accurate- and who wouldn’t prefer a 2-4 hour plane trip to 8 hours in the car?! Except of course- if where you live has direct flights to Houston, they have direct flights to Pittsburgh also. And based on your flight times, I’m guessing that Duke isn’t far off an 8 hour drive either.
Also, after visiting you reference the stereotype of the students, not what your impressions were of the actual students you met were. You give it only 1 ‘pro’ for itself (engineering)- the rest are generic about where it is. It looks as if your thumb is already on the scale wrt CMU, so I’m reversing the question: what’s keeping CMU on your list?
On the Public Policy comparison between Rice & Duke, be aware that a career in public policy will require grad school ~3-5 years after undergrad.
Overall, I agree with the others: visit both places and pay attention to the feel of the place, and choose the one that seems most like you.
Note that it might not be the one with the ‘best’ re-visit day! The re-visit day is a straight-up sales pitch: choose us!! (which feels great after all the selling of yourself that you did to get the offer). But you need to apply all the usual filters that you would when you know somebody is trying to sell you something.
Congratulations!!! These are three great schools.
I would eliminate Duke as you can’t double with engineering, even if you aren’t sure you want it, it’s good to keep the option. Greek life and sports are big draw but you are neither an athlete nor interested in pledging.
That leaves Rice and CMU. You can give their great engineering programs a shot. Even if you end up doing public policy, they are solid undergrad schools and can get you in good masters programs. Rice has a smaller, happier and collaborative environment and there is a prestigious think tank on campus. CMU ranks lower but better known in NE than Rice.
Between these two, you can visit and decide which one suits you better. Your preference for cold and heat is important, Rice is hot and you get 3 bad months of summers off. CMU is really cold and you can’t take 3 months off to escape bad winter.
Why do you say you can’t do engineering at Duke? On their website, they say you can apply for a transfer after 1 semester. You should contact the engineering school.
You give Duke’s prestige as a pro, but CMU and Rice are both equally prestigious. It doesn’t matter much anyway—pick wherever you feel most comfortable.
Why wouldn’t you be able to do engineering at Duke? It is very easy to transfer to Pratt.
You can have a very enjoyable time at Duke without being a member of a fraternity. You clearly like Duke the most. Follow your heart.
Thanks everyone for the input! CMU and Rice were in consideration because of their engineerig strength, but I think I’m gonna follow my heart and go to Duke 
Go blue devils!